Draft — content will be confirmed and Board-approved before publication.
Act 73, the education law Vermont passed in 2025, set up a state process to combine school districts into larger ones. A legislative task force is drawing proposed maps, and the Legislature decides what happens next. Whatever it decides would reshape how Harwood's six towns govern and pay for their schools.
Before reporting to the task force, the Board asked residents what they thought. The October 2025 survey drew 720 responses, over 6% of the district's population. The main takeaway, in the Board's words: residents are deeply skeptical that consolidation will improve education or save money. About 40% of respondents focused on how any change would be financed, and many raised travel times, class sizes, and the loss of community schools.
One thing that helps as you follow this: "consolidation" can mean several different things. Merging district governance, closing a school building, redrawing attendance lines, and state funding rules that pressure small schools indirectly are different decisions with different stakes. It is worth asking which one a given proposal actually is.
There is also local work on buildings, separate from the state process. Consultants presented a facility evaluation to the Board in October 2025, and the Board's Building Use & Visioning Committee is studying how the district uses its buildings as enrollment shifts.
The state process moves on Montpelier's calendar, but the Board carries community views into it — the survey shaped what the Board told the task force. Watch Meetings for redistricting updates, and see Get Involved for how to comment before a meeting.
